Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

During the month of December, I’m featuring a different cold/ice/snow related card each week to celebrate the winter holidays. Today, we’re going to take a look at Mr. Freeze: Heart of Ice from the DC World’s Finest set.

I’m also adding a new Prime Rating to each of my Confusing Card of the Week articles. They will follow the same rating system as the Unlimited Competitive Rating, since Prime is also a competitive format. You can find a breakdown of how I choose my ratings on my sticky article, Helpful Sites and About this Blog.

Ruling – Ability

Mr. Freeze has a While Active ability. While Active abilities will work regardless of how many of that character’s dice are active in the Field Zone. Think of this ability like a light – it’s either on or it’s off.

Mr. Freeze says that while he’s active, you may choose any die that’s in your opponent’s Prep Area and they can’t roll that die this turn. You must choose the die before your opponent’s Clear and Draw Step. If you forget or choose to not use the ability, you can’t backup once your opponent has begun their Clear and Draw Step because his ability is optional and not mandatory. It may be helpful to declare that you are intending to use Mr. Freeze’s ability when you end your turn so that your opponent doesn’t accidentally begin their Clear and Draw Step before you have a chance to choose a die.

Mr. Freeze’s ability does not specifically state what type of die to choose. This means that you are able to choose any type of die – character, action, or Sidekick die. Once you make your choice, your opponent should move that die away from any other dice in their Prep Area so it doesn’t get mixed in accidentally. Mr. Freeze’s ability does not state that you must choose a different die each turn, which means you can choose the same die again or choose a different one.

Miscellaneous Card Information

Mr. Freeze: Heart of Ice is a Bolt Character and has the Villain affiliation. This card also has a Max Dice of four.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:Using Mr. Freeze’s ability on a character die.

~ I have two Mr. Freeze dice active in the Field Zone. My opponent has an Ultraman die and a Kryptonite die in their Prep Area.
~ (Clear and Draw) Before my opponent draws, I choose my opponent’s Ultraman die for Mr. Freeze’s ability.
~ (Clear and Draw) My opponent draws four dice from their bag.
~ (Roll and Reroll) My opponent rolls the four dice they drew plus the Kryptonite from their Prep Area. My opponent is not able to roll the Ultraman die this turn because of Mr. Freeze’s ability.

Example Two:Using Mr. Freeze’s ability on an action die.

~ I have two Mr. Freeze dice active in the Field Zone. My opponent has an Ultraman die and a Kryptonite die in their Prep Area.
~ (Clear and Draw) Before my opponent draws, I choose my opponent’s Kryptonite die for Mr. Freeze’s ability.
~ (Clear and Draw) My opponent draws four dice from their bag.
~ (Roll and Reroll) My opponent rolls the four dice they drew plus the Ultraman from their Prep Area. My opponent is not able to roll the Kryptonite die this turn because of Mr. Freeze’s ability.

Example Three:Using Mr. Freeze’s ability on a Sidekick die.

~ I have two Mr. Freeze dice active in the Field Zone. My opponent has a Sidekick die in their Prep Area.
~ (Clear and Draw) Before my opponent draws, I choose my opponent’s Sidekick die for Mr. Freeze’s ability.
~ (Clear and Draw) My opponent draws four dice from their bag.
~ (Roll and Reroll) My opponent rolls the four dice they drew but they can’t roll the Sidekick die from their Prep Area this turn because of Mr. Freeze’s ability.

Official Sources

Unlimited Competitive Play Rating

This card could be useful in an unlimited format, but the main drawback is his purchase cost. Most unlimited meta cards have a much more lethal or useful ability and they cost less to purchase than Mr. Freeze. There are also too many ways to blank his text and render him useless. In an unlimited meta, a useless character that costs you five energy to purchase is a huge waste of resources. If someone can build a team that uses Mr. Freeze as a major control piece, that would be pretty cool. But again, some of the best control cards cost four or less and have a much more devastating effect. His ability is definitely useful and could even cause someone to lose if they can’t get their main lethal piece into play. But getting Mr. Freeze into your dice rotation and then putting him the Field while having to keep him safe from blanking effects is a lot of work. There are better control pieces, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone found a way to use this card to their advantage.

Mr. Freeze: Heart of Ice gets a Unlimited rating of two out of five stars.

Prime Play Rating

I feel like Mr. Freeze has more potential in the Prime format, even without some of the good cost reducers. There are still cheaper control pieces, but he adds another control option that may be more useful since Rip Hunter’s Chalkboard is possibly going to be a key meta card because of its Global. I think a player could possibly benefit from a card like Mr. Freeze much more in a Prime format. And while his ability is really good, his attack stats aren’t terrible – meaning he could possibly lend that additional pressure or even a lethal blow. I could definitely see him making a rogue team, and I would hope that he’s not overlooked by control players. He’s expensive in a format with little to no cost reduction, but the payoff could be bigger than expected. We haven’t seen a Prime meta yet, so there isn’t a definitive way to know if he’s going to be worth the effort yet. I still think he’s worth a few looks and at least a test play though.

Mr. Freeze: Heart of Ice gets a Prime rating of three out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

Mr. Freeze’s ability is pretty clearly written and not too complicated, but some of the tricks to it might be lost on beginners. For instance, being able to name an action or Sidekick die may not be something that a beginner or newer player would think is a possibility. But a quick explanation could open a whole world of possibilities for a new player, which makes this card great for a player that understands the basic turn order. His ability is definitely unusual and fun to use, which is appealing to most newer players as well. He also helps teach patience and a bit of strategy because it’s not always best to attack with him if your opponent has dice in the Prep Area. I could easily recommend this card for any player of any skill level.

Mr. Freeze: Heart of Ice gets a casual play rating of four out of five stars.

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